Thoughts on Tour Thor GX7 Skates

[johnjm22 0]

I'm looking for some new skates and the GX7s seem like a good deal. I'm an intermediate level player that's getting back into the sport after a LONG time off. My main concern is that I have long thin feet, and I keep reading that Tour skates have a wider fit. Any thoughts/advice on these skates would be great.

I'm actually still using my old Bauer H3's from 15 years ago! So I figure just about any skate will be a major improvement. The H3's are heavy as hell and very uncomfortable.

[Kanya 3]

I don't think I'd ever get a pair of Tours ever again. The support broke down way too fast, and ended up replacing them after 6 months or so.

Whats your budget? You'd be far better getting a pair of Alkali skates I reckon, however they are quite wide fitting but they apparently mould great to feet when baked. The CA5's are a pretty sweet skate for the money. If you have more cash, keep going up the models :)

[jazz4all 9]

if u willing to get alkali, i suggest move up to CA9. even though my CA7 fit nicely, for the price, the boot is soft.

[the_game 452]

I don't think I'd ever get a pair of Tours ever again. The support broke down way too fast, and ended up replacing them after 6 months or so.

Whats your budget? You'd be far better getting a pair of Alkali skates I reckon, however they are quite wide fitting but they apparently mould great to feet when baked. The CA5's are a pretty sweet skate for the money. If you have more cash, keep going up the models :)

Stay away from Tour skates.

Tour skates are garbage, like Kanya said Tour skates break down way too fast and they're not worth the money. Check some other posts on Tour skates breaking down is common theme. Kanya and I are not the only ones experiencing durability issues with Tour skates. Plus like you said Tours are cut wider so they may not fit you well.

I'd go out and see what fits your foot and price range best and go from there. Like you said, pretty much anything is going to be upgrade over your current set up so a pair of Mission, Bauer, Reebok, or Alkali would be good.

[Justin 1933 134]

One correction on the CA7 verse CA9. The boot construction is almost identical. The CA7 (or CA5 for that matter) is very supportive.

[johnjm22 0]

I've heard lots of good things about Tour skates, and lots of bad. I'm kind of on the fence about them. I don't live anywhere near a retail store, so I can't go try on a bunch of skates (wish I could).

I was really interested in the CCM V10 skates, but they got discontinued before I decided to pull the trigger on a purchase. (Anyone know where I can find a pair in size 10?)

I know it shouldn't matter, but I can't stand the look of the Bauer/Mission skates and the RBK skates "pump" thing seems kind of gimmicky. So that doesn't leave me with many other options. I'll take a look at the Alkali stuff.

[johnjm22 0]

I made the two hour drive to Sports Monkey in Santa Ana today. They had 4 different brands of inline skates available; Alkali, Bauer, Mission and RBK. I tried on the CA9, XR5 and 9K. I skipped Mission because I figure they're the same as Bauer, and because they're hideous.

I ended up purchasing the CA9.

It was the most comfortable of the 3. I liked the way the heel felt specifically. It also seemed a touch lighter than the other two, and was easily the best looking. At $550, it's a good deal for a companies flagship skate. The top skates from Bauer and RBK are $850 & $600.

I'm not going to judge the CA9's just yet; it's too early. They still feel awkward to me (all new skates feel that way), and I haven't even got to use them in a game situation yet. My only concern is that the skates feel a little bit wide even after being baked (and I think the kid at Monkey Sports messed up a little when he baked them). Hopfully they'll snug up more after a few uses.

[Kanya 3]

You made the right choice :)

Enjoy!

[chip1441 0]

Congrats on the purchase! They look sharp.

I might have ended up with some Alkali, but none of my local store had any in stock (December 2011). I went with the Bauer APXR.

[Justin 1933 134]

Hope you enjoy the skates. Getting use to the new skates will take a bit of time, but you should be loving them shortly. Please let me know if you have any questions (also, you can re-heat fit them if you need to).

[johnjm22 0]

Used my skates in a competitive environment for the first time tonight (pick up hockey). No complaints from me, I'm pretty pleased with them. I can say they're the most comfortable skates I've ever used. I played for 2 1/2 hours and my feet didn't hurt at all. I've also been wearing the skates around the house as much as possible to try and break them in quickly. I watched TV with them on, did chores, played video games, surfed the internet ect. and my feet felt good the whole time.

Performance wise, it's hard for me to say how much of a difference the skate makes. Skating comes down to the player ultimately. It does feel like the energy transfer is much better on theses skates compared to my old Bauers though.

[psupef2k 0]

I recently purchased the Tour Thor GX7 skates to replace my old Tour Code E2 skates. Since there aren't any LHS around here, I couldn't try anything on prior to buying, so I stuck with the same brand & size. I loved my Code E2s, and they lasted me a good 5 years.

It's been a while since i've broken in skates, but the Thor GX7's break-in is alot worse than I had expected. I've skated twice on them and have blisters on my instep on both feet, just below the ankle, and noticable pain in the area for days after from the pressure. I am hoping this gets better, but we'll see. I know these are not intended to be thermal molded, but would baking help the break in a bit? I'm willing to try anything to avoid the constant blisters so far. Any thoughts would be appreciated.